"When were the Beales in their prime?" As someone who was 10 when they hit the US, I can tell you this.... The Beatles were in their prime from the day they made their first album until their last. With each new release, they evolved, transitioned, and matured. And it was that very evolution and newness of each album that always seemed better than the last... a difficult task indeed. In doing so, they set the pace for the music industry at large and kept the Beatles perpetually at the top until they parted ways. In a nutshell, they had a 7 year prime.
Years ago my Beatles friends and I did a Beatles 'pilgrimage' to Liverpool. Not only was Penny Lane real, it had the specific features of the song's lyrics. It was FAN-tastic. Loved your reaction.
@@alfresco8442 I often wonder what might have happened if they’d grown up in a different part of the city - “Fazakerley Hospital is in my ears, and in my eyes” doesn’t have the same ring.
This was the middle years of The Beatles. Fun song written by Paul McCartney. The companion song to this is Strawberry Fields Forever, written by John Lennon. This is when they really started writing songs that got people thinking. Great song. Great reaction.
@@peterolbrisch8970 You are so correct! Rubber Soul and then Revolver -- both masterpieces. And to think the Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields could have been included in Sgt Pepper album. Mind blowing. In the USA you paid another 99 cents ( if memory was correct) to hear the double A tunes when they came out. This in a time when you made $1.69 an hour as a kid. That is equal to $30.75 today's currency ( fiat ). I think an album was three to four times the amount of a single to buy. This was at a time when groups made money from recordings and not as much from the touring.
When The Beatles debuted in America on E Sulivan in 1964, 73 million people were watching. Their first album here was number 1 for 11 weeks, selling 4 million copies in '64. Unheard of at the time. Then in 1967, they released Sgt Pepper. It was pretty much considered a masterpiece. It stayed at number 1 for 15 weeks and was the number 1 album of the decade. In 1968, they release the Hey Jude/Revolution single. It was their biggest single to date. In 1969, they released their last album Abbey Road. It stayed at number 1 for 11 weeks and sold 4 million copies the first two months after release. The greatest hits album Beatles 1 was the biggest selling album of the 2000s. It sold 31 million copies worldwide.
@@Isleofskye That was more amazing then than it sounds now. Taylor Swift beats that every time she puts an album out. And that's even with her recent album where the songs are all just remakes of her previous songs. Every song on an album is considered a single. Can you imagine if they counted every time we listened to a Beatle song?
This is actually a misconception, that Starr is underestimated. For example, he can be found in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "greatest" drummers at number 14. Anyone who deals with it, will appreciate his quite intelligent style and his knowing, what the song needs and he also could deliver a powerful rock'n'roll drumming.
Great song written by Paul McCartney. The lyrics refer to a real street in Liverpool called Penny Lane. Paul mentions the sights & characters that he remembers growing up there.
"Behind the shelter in the centre of a roundabout a pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray" www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.3887829,-2.915441,3a,44.1y,53.21h,93.49t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1syAE7rbXrTR80mvnio9GJLw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Penny Lane is actually a bus stop in Liverpool between John and Paul's homes. There is a round about, there was a barber shop, a firestation down the road a bit, this song is just a description of a moment while waiting for a bus.
@@aprilstewart5929 Yes, I've heard Bus Stop many times, both The Hollies' original and the cover by Herman's Hermits, but I don't consider it anywhere near on the same level as Penny Lane either lyrically or musically. As for all the best bands being British, I think perhaps Kansas, Weather Report, The Rippingtons and Steely Dan, to name just a few, might dispute that claim. Granted, my personal taste tends to run to British prog rock, but there are plenty of great bands on this side of the pond too.
'63 was a horrible year, until they came on the scene. It was right after Kennedy had been assassinated, and a pall of sadness hung over the entire country....and suddenly, "I Want To Hold Your Hand" on the Ed Sullivan Show changed the filter from blue to brilliant gold.
I love this Beatles song. A few years ago James Corden did a Carpool Karaoke with Paul McCartney and they went to Liverpool to tour Paul’s childhood home, and even went to the barbershop on Penny Lane. It is a fun watch if you get a chance. I really enjoy your reactions…Beatles and Queen. Thanks for your reactions.
This song actually cost them. It was issued as a Double A Single with Strawberry Fields, which I don't think you have reviewed yet (but you absolutely should). The 2 songs competed against each other in the charts & Engelbert Humperdinck broke The Beatles streak of 12 consecutive number one hits with Release Me. Love your comment, yes the Beatles are next level.
Penny Lane did peak at #2 in the UK... but it was #1 many countries around the world. It was #1 in the US while its B side (Strawberry Fields Forever") peaked at #8.
The Beatles were pioneers in rock music. No rock band before them used orchestral backing and the piccolo trumpet was totally original. These days we think nothing of things like this but the Beatles were first.
How can this possibly be the first time you’ve ever heard this song? I have heard this in grocery stores, in cars, on elevators, in dentist offices, etc. it has been ubiquitous for over 55 years.
Penny Lane is the name of a street and a district in Liverpool, England, and I've been there. All the places mentioned in the song - the barbershop, the fire station, and the roundabout - still exist. The Penny Lane signs were stolen so often that they don't make them anymore.
The Beatles were *never* out of "their prime". They were prolific to a fault, and invented new ways of recording, some of which are still in use. And yes, Penny Lane is a real place, and so is Strawberry Fields.
My favorite Beatles album has always been the one I was listening to at the time. Since I retired, I am learning to play guitar. Fun to play the songs that remind me how great they were together. “Now And Then” ties it all together.
They’re just talking about where they grew up and the things they encounter on a daily basis! Penny lane is an area in Liverpool which is the Beatles hometown.
The Beatles were so clever at writing songs about all kinds of people. Penny Lane is in Liverpool, and a few other place names are in some of their songs, too. The Beatles, the Fab Four Forever. 🇬🇧🎶🎶💕💕
I was going to mention their nicknames, the Fab Four and also the Lads from Liverpool. (I didn’t even have to type the initial “L” in Liverpool just now because it already popped up as a suggestion. Not bad for the nickname of a band that broke up more than fifty years ago!)
@lorenschwiderski I've read that Paul just wouldn't be satisfied with the solo, and had played and re-played multiple times until the trumpeteer said that's it, I can't do it any better, even though Paul still wanted another take.
Yes, the Beatles did walk that street in their young days but the streets they are walking in the video are in London, intercut with footage of the actual Penny Lane in Liverpool.
The Beatles were hugely popular in North America pretty much from the moment they appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show... it never let up until they disbanded, which was upsetting news to millions and millions of people... for one thing, in the pre-internet era, it seemed to come out of the blue, and after they had released Abbey Road, and were as popular as ever.... a band releases songs like Something, Here Comes the Sun and Come Together and then announces their break up what seemed like a few months later
How can someone reach their 20s without hearing this song somewhere? I grew up with the song, can’t remember the first time hearing it, and I can’t imagine how great it must sound for a musician to hear for the first time. It’s clearly inspired by classical music - Bach definitely, but it also has Glen Miller in the horns. They repeat the trick on “All You Need is Love”. And Paul’s bass, if you didn’t recognise it, sort of quotes “My Baby Just Cares for Me”. And there’s LOADS of sunshine in the music - I don’t know how they did that! Super-saturated George Martin production probably, as well as the effects of marijuana (it has a pulsing quality, not unlike the Jamaican ska music of the time). It’s not really a Beatles song - it’s a McCartney record - apart from the gorgeous harmony vocals, I can’t hear much of John, George or even Ringo, while they are all clearly present on the flip-side. Both Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields represent an important step in the growth of postmodernism in popular music - assembling something new from existing material which has a built-in cultural meanings. The Beatles were lucky enough to have lots of access to studios and expert engineers and musicians. So the listener of 1967, hearing horns that sound a bit like Glen Miller, will think of WW2, the childhood years of the Beatles themselves. Hearing the baroque trumpet solo, we might think of cathedrals, of the sacred, renaissance Europe and joyful, celebratory music. Then the short ending - this odd fragment seems to use the same instruments as the main song, along with a speeded-up tape-loop, possibly backwards. It is very much at odds with the lovely chord progression of the main song, with trumpets and guitar blaring out a repeated note which is not in tune with the tapes - but there’s Ringo pounding away so this section should evoke ‘Beatles/LSD’.
I never thought about the different aspects of the music evoking images in the listener’s mind. I had just turned five when this came out, and I’m an American who’s still never been to Europe, so to me it’s always been purely a Beatles sound. Thanks for sharing.
@@terri2494 I wonder what the song evokes for you when you hear it? I’m from Liverpool, so for me it conjures up that part of the city, with it’s blue suburban skies. But it also makes me think a little bit of Otis, Arethra, American R’n’B, and there is a dreamy quality, clearly a song made by a bunch of pot-heads! I was born a month after the record was released - but I’m a student of music so like to think about the meaning and origin of a song.
@@braudabo Now I always thought it was Paul on the piano - it sounds much more like Paul than John to me. Wikipedia says John added piano overdubs but that Paul recorded the basic ‘keyboard track’. It’s probably a moot point anyway - the way they were recording at the time, there could be dozens of overdubs layered into the mix!
Regarding your question about The Beatles' popularity timeline, they were always HUGELY popular right from the start until the very end. They ruled the airwaves with radio play. One of my favorite songs that doesn't get much play is Baby You're a Rich Man. It has a funky beat with an Indian/oriental twist to it. Hope you get around to it!
Always and forever Popular........ Never gone out of fashion in60years!!!! Who else can claim that..... Maybe The Rolling Stones, as they're still going!!! We are a small Island but stuffed with many talents🤣😂🤣💕🎶🎶🎶🎶
@@aprilstewart5929 thanks🥰.....we were once a great nation , sadly no longer....oh well every dog has its day, was nice while it lasted and it lasted a very long time.
@@nowhere982 As a Yank, lemme say this: don't ever count out the English. Things may look bad, now, but your people have the kind of strength and resilience that outlasted the Roman Empire....and the inventiveness that made Dunkirk possible. Your day is not over, my friend.
@@aprilstewart5929 sadly I fear we will soon be an Islamic State, they have so much power here and the horrific thing is OUR govt is fully supportive of them😪😪😪😪in fact a good deal of our cities and parliament and media is ruled by them. Really appreciated your kind words😘💞
@@nowhere982 Muslims aren't all bad. And they aren't all wankers. Keep calm and carry on; keep voting and being involved. England and the UK will come right, it always does. You still have Roman ruins, there, to remind you: the British are as tough as they come.
Penny lane is an area in Liverpool where the Beatles grew up in.Paul decided to make a song out of it by observing the people that worked and lived there.Now an important point,Penny Lane was released by the Beatles as a double A side.On the other side was John's sons,Strawberry Fields,again a song about an area of Liverpool,which was a park.So you have two Beatle songs about areas in Liverpool one of which was Paul's and the other John's,both on a single disk.Which one was the best?Well thats down to taste but both monumental songs.Would be nice to know the choice of some people.The Beatles at their best.
I went to Liverpool and took the Magical Mystery Tour bus ride around. And yeah Penny Lane is where Paul walked when he was a boy. But no they couldn’t walk around like everyone. They didn’t have a more or less popular period. They are THE BEATLES!!!! because they were just The Beatles being themselves and bringing joy.
The Beatles were at their peak from beginning to the end. And yes, they walked streets. Lennon never had security. Watch the videos of him in Central Park. But of course, we know what happened.
During their time as the Beatles, they always had security at public events, right up to the record-breaking 35,000 police officers, who protected them during the Tokyo performances in 1966. In the clip they aren't in Liverpool on Penny Lane, but in Stratford in London's East End. The Liverpool scenes were mixed into the clip.
Decades later McCartney would record three albums (along with Youth) anonymously as “the Fireman,” with the first album called “Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest,” and the second titled “Rushes.” For awhile I couldn’t figure out why “the Fireman?” But of course, the Fireman “Rushes” in, and the flip side of Penny Lane was “Strawberry Fields.”
Penny Lane is simply one of the greatest songs ever written. An incredible melody with lyrics which paint a vivid suburban landscape. A pop masterpiece.
This appeared in February 1967 when the last image we had of the Beatles in the previous August was still clean cut moptops doing a concert in San Francisco. It was literally like they had arrived from a different planet.
This song is songwriting perfection... John and Paul were probably the best the 20th century ever saw in that regard. There is a reason they were so popular and still are.... Absolute Icons.
Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever were both intended to be on the Sgt Pepper album that was released in June 1967. Capitol was pressuring the Beatles for a new single as they had taken a bit of a break after their 1966 touring and had not provided any new music for a few months. Unfortunately they gave in to the record company’s request and released PL/SSF in February 1967 as a single instead. The Beatles did not like dipping into their fans’ pockets twice for the same song and as a general rule kept songs released as a single off of their albums. Sgt Pepper (in my opinion) suffered a little without these two songs being included.
This along with Strawberry fields forever were the first songs the Beatles recorded after they stopped touring in 1966. the 45 which had both songs was released in February 1967 along with the promotional videos which sported their "new" look.
The comments will definitely tell you the history and the context of this song but I just want to say that was a fun reaction. It's really intriguing watching you go down this rabbit hole. And I know that Beatles reactions are hard to get up so hats off man. I loved all this stuff as a kid but I've been a musician for decades and somehow when I look at now man it is so amazing what they were doing at the time. It really is.
David Mason (2 April 1926 - 29 April 2011) was an English orchestral, solo and session trumpet player. He played the piccolo trumpet solo on the Beatles' song "Penny Lane". Paul had heard a a piccolo trumpet playing Bach piece with the symphony on TV, and wnated ta sound on Penny Lane. Found out if was Mr. Mason, so they hired him...There is an alternate take with a different ending where the piccolo trumpet plays 7 ending notes. Imagine being able to brag you played on a Beatles record and your solo is now immortal. There is a segment of this film in the new Now and Then Beatles song video.
It's a very real place and as you say, very much visited (including by my wife and I). It's just a suburban neighborhood shopping area near where John and Paul grew up in Liverpool. The 'shelter in the roundabout' is a very real bus stop on a roundabout on Penny Lane - they made a very ordinary place immortal!
Observations based on their childhood experiences around Liverpool. It's happy on the surface, but there's darkness there as well. A very atmospheric song, especially in that final note, which sounds foreboding to me.
Most people say that the Beatles true artistic peak happened at Sergeant Pepper's lonely hearts club band. This was also when they were leaving the recording studios and now owned their own recording studio called Abbey Road studios. Hence the album Abbey Road where they're rocking across Abbey Road.
They made this short and one for Strawberry Fields Forever, because they had stopped turing but wanted something their fans could share. TV music platforms played it everywhere.
Strawberry Fields, was the park (garden with lots of bushes, trees, places to build forts and such) on the same street down the block from John's aunt Mimi's house, whom he lived with. It was John's escape. Penny Lane is Paul's response to John's S.Fields song. Paul spent a lot of time at this bus stop, many times with George Harrison there, waiting to be bussed to school when he was 12-14 years old, right before he tried out for John Lennon's Quarrymen band.
😂😂 i didn’t think about the red coats, until you mentioned it; but dam dude, right on. This time when the red coats crossed the pond, we welcomed them with open arms. That was the 2nd british invasion😂😂😂😂
This is a classic McCartney song, with heavy influences from producer George Martin. He liked to insert classical music instruments, like that Bach Trumpet used in the solo (but only after McCartney asked him about the instrument, which he heard in using in another piece). Yes, a real place, real sights and sounds from the real place used to produce the lyrics.
There is a funny story about Penny Lane. John had been working on Strawberry Fields Forever, about a place from when he was growing up in Liverpool. He had worked on it, crafting it for weeks until it was at a point where he thought it was good enough to show the other Beatles. After he'd played it Paul said, "Hey, that's great! Taking something from Liverpool and making a song about it." The next day he showed up and had written and completed Penny Lane over night - melody, lyrics, chords. John was furious. He had to struggle and work to create and Paul just seemed to pop them out (for example, Paul wrote the song Yesterday in his sleep).
In the Maysel Brothers' real-time documentary "The Beatles: The First American Visit", where they accompanied the Beatles on their February 1964 trip to New York City & Washington, DC - there's a marvelous scene of The Beatles waiting in their hotel room for the car to take them to the Ed Sullivan Show. John is seated by himself, playing a melodica - working out the middle section of "Strawberry Fields Forever" (living is easy with eyes closed).
The Beatles - the best! There is a song called “Waterloo Sunset” by the Kinks that has a huge fan base in the UK especially England. The Kinks were big in the mid-sixties in California when I was a kid, but faded over time. I just learned they stayed popular, current and extremely well-loved in the UK all this time! 60 years! “Waterloo Sunset” has been covered by Bowie, Elliott smith, def leopard. Fans are sentimental about it and fiercely loyal.
Is there something subliminal with the mayo jar resting on the couch? I will never get over the fact that unlike any other band ever, the Beatles rarely wrote a song that followed a traditional "a to z" format. It makes it fun to listen to their songs even over and over because I feel like I'm always discovering something new even with songs I've heard a hundred times or more.
Release date 1967, 5 years after first stepping into a recording studio. Paul wrote this about an area he grew up in, so it's observations (reminiscences actually) of where he grew up. Except 'finger pies' is a rude 'activity' you do with the girls... This song was released as a single coupled with "Strawberry Fields Forever", which was a John Lennon song about John's memories about Strawberry Fields, near where he grew up. "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" were another innovation by the Beatles: the music video. They had stopped touring the year before (last tours 1966), so they needed a way to promote new music, something more than just airplay on AM radio. So they made these music promotional videos and sent them to national TV shows that drew the audiences that would be interested. I recall in the US these were played on The Ed Sullivan Show, American Bandstand, and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Likely there were others. After this, other bands prepared music videos for airplay on both national and regional television. It would be another 14 years before the rise of cable and the invention of MTV (1981), and another 12 years after that before home computers had availability of the internet (1993). Fun Fact: The Beatles' road managers, Mal Evans and Neil Aspinall, are dressed in the wigs and footmen costumes, bring the Beatles their guitars, at the end of the "Penny Lane" video. They met Mal when he worked as an occasional bouncer for the Cavern Club in Liverpool, where the Beatles established themselves as regular performers.
Whether or not you react to it on the channel, I strongly recommend checking out Ellen Alaverdyan's bass & vocal cover of Penny Lane. This young bassist is an amazing talent, and her rendition of this Beatles classic is pretty much guaranteed to touch your heart and put a smile on your face!
BBC Radio 1 started on the 30th September 1967. Previously, we had 'The BBC Light Programme' that played more 'light music' than pop. Pre October 1967, many would listen to pop music in the UK from commercial pirate radio stations broadcasting from ships anchored in international waters off the UK, but they were eventually outlawed and even jammed! Radio Luxembourg was also popular, a legal pop station broadcast in English from the heart of Europe, but famous for its wobbly AM radio signal in much of England due to the distance.
I agree with others who suggested Strawberry Fields Forever, which, like Penny Lane, was also on the Magical Mystery Tour album. Eventually, please cover Here Comes the Sun. It's gratifying to see TH-camrs discovering the greats of my childhood, and in music none greater than the Beatles.
If you haven't already, I suggest listening to some Beach Boys songs, especially from the album Pet Sounds (like 'God Only Knows' ) or really from anytime that Brian Wilson was still the primary songwriter for the group from roughly 1962 to 1968. The Beach Boys kind of saw themselves as the American rivals of The Beatles, especially since they were one of the most popular bands in America just before the Beatles broke out in the US in 1964. Other great Beach Boys songs from that period include 'Good Vibrations', 'Help Me Rhonda', 'Wouldn't It Be Nice', 'Fun, Fun, Fun', 'California Girls', and 'All Summer Long'
Red coats were worn to hunt foxes on horses. Redcoats, the soldiers, had white straps forming a big white X to hold weapons with. The americans laughed at them wearing a big X, they could use it for a target to shoot them.
It's on the outskirts,hence the suburban skies.I used to walk home along it from school every day in the sixties.it was my bank branch and barber's .Great days.
That was also the 2 songs The Beatles recorded after stopping touring which Mean they didn't have to Perform those songs on stage with only three guitars and a set of drums.
Penny Lane is in the middle of their short 8 year reign. They established mega-stardom in the early years, and artistic and critical acclaim in the middle to the end.
"When were the Beales in their prime?" As someone who was 10 when they hit the US, I can tell you this.... The Beatles were in their prime from the day they made their first album until their last. With each new release, they evolved, transitioned, and matured. And it was that very evolution and newness of each album that always seemed better than the last... a difficult task indeed. In doing so, they set the pace for the music industry at large and kept the Beatles perpetually at the top until they parted ways. In a nutshell, they had a 7 year prime.
You asked when the Beatles were most popular, beginning, middle or end. The answer is YES!
Dang it, Just saw your reply after posting the same answer
They were like Maxwell House coffee good til the last drop went out on top.
❤❤❤❤
Years ago my Beatles friends and I did a Beatles 'pilgrimage' to Liverpool. Not only was Penny Lane real, it had the specific features of the song's lyrics. It was FAN-tastic. Loved your reaction.
I live about 10 minutes from Penny Lane - I saw a pretty nurse there the other day.
My husband and I did this too. It was fantastic!
Me too. The “nurse” was a friend of John’s who he kept in touch with until he died.
The shelter in the middle of a roundabout is the Sgt Pepper Bistro now...at the junction of Penny Lane and Smithdown Rd.
@@alfresco8442 I often wonder what might have happened if they’d grown up in a different part of the city - “Fazakerley Hospital is in my ears, and in my eyes” doesn’t have the same ring.
This was the middle years of The Beatles. Fun song written by Paul McCartney. The companion song to this is Strawberry Fields Forever, written by John Lennon. This is when they really started writing songs that got people thinking. Great song. Great reaction.
You can go back to rubber soul for interesting lyrics.
@@peterolbrisch8970 You are so correct! Rubber Soul and then Revolver -- both masterpieces. And to think the Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields could have been included in Sgt Pepper album. Mind blowing. In the USA you paid another 99 cents ( if memory was correct) to hear the double A tunes when they came out. This in a time when you made $1.69 an hour as a kid. That is equal to $30.75 today's currency ( fiat ). I think an album was three to four times the amount of a single to buy. This was at a time when groups made money from recordings and not as much from the touring.
@@lorenschwiderski Thanks for your reply and have a great day!
This is when they said "fuck pop music" and "let's write what we want".
I grew up in Liverpool during the 60's and 70's. All the places mentioned exist, all the characters mentioned are real people.
But is it a clean machine? :)
Very strange.@@aprilstewart5929
Scouse power brother. YNWA
@@aprilstewart5929 Very clean
I think this song resonates with anyone who grew up in a British city, all the local characters you knew growing up. A brilliant song.
When The Beatles debuted in America on E Sulivan in 1964, 73 million people were watching. Their first album here was number 1 for 11 weeks, selling 4 million copies in '64. Unheard of at the time.
Then in 1967, they released Sgt Pepper. It was pretty much considered a masterpiece. It stayed at number 1 for 15 weeks and was the number 1 album of the decade.
In 1968, they release the Hey Jude/Revolution single. It was their biggest single to date. In 1969, they released their last album Abbey Road. It stayed at number 1 for 11 weeks and sold 4 million copies the first two months after release.
The greatest hits album Beatles 1 was the biggest selling album of the 2000s. It sold 31 million copies worldwide.
Always remember the barber's(Bioletti) had the walls plastered with very old swords and firearms.Also it was my bank branch a few doors down.
At one point they had ALL The Top 5 in The Billboard USA Charts and 14 songs in the Top 100.
@@Isleofskye That was more amazing then than it sounds now. Taylor Swift beats that every time she puts an album out. And that's even with her recent album where the songs are all just remakes of her previous songs. Every song on an album is considered a single. Can you imagine if they counted every time we listened to a Beatle song?
@@debjorgo Good point!
The Beatles talent is well known, but I must say I truly marvel at Ringo Starr and how his drums fit into the songs. Such an underrated drummer.
This is actually a misconception, that Starr is underestimated. For example, he can be found in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "greatest" drummers at number 14. Anyone who deals with it, will appreciate his quite intelligent style and his knowing, what the song needs and he also could deliver a powerful rock'n'roll drumming.
@@braudabo Thanks for the lesson, man was I off course.
Ringo isn't underrated. His name nearly always appears on lists of top 20 if not top ten drummers.
Most drummers are well aware how good he is.
Ohh I know, I'm a huge fan of Ringo....
Great song written by Paul McCartney. The lyrics refer to a real street in Liverpool called Penny Lane. Paul mentions the sights & characters that he remembers growing up there.
I always think this sounds like it’s coming from a child’s perspective. Very well written.
"Behind the shelter in the centre of a roundabout a pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray" www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.3887829,-2.915441,3a,44.1y,53.21h,93.49t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1syAE7rbXrTR80mvnio9GJLw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Penny Lane is actually a bus stop in Liverpool between John and Paul's homes. There is a round about, there was a barber shop, a firestation down the road a bit, this song is just a description of a moment while waiting for a bus.
Only The Beatles could take something as mundane as waiting for a bus and turn it into something magical.
@@johnbgood52 Nuh-uh. Hey, I worship them, too, but heave you ever heard "Bus Stop", by the Hollies? Meanwhile....why are all the best bands British??
@@aprilstewart5929 Yes, I've heard Bus Stop many times, both The Hollies' original and the cover by Herman's Hermits, but I don't consider it anywhere near on the same level as Penny Lane either lyrically or musically. As for all the best bands being British, I think perhaps Kansas, Weather Report, The Rippingtons and Steely Dan, to name just a few, might dispute that claim. Granted, my personal taste tends to run to British prog rock, but there are plenty of great bands on this side of the pond too.
@@aprilstewart5929 I didn't know The Beach Boys were British. 😁
Penny Lane and Strawbeey Feilds are real places. This has always been one of my favorite Beatles songs. And favorite song of any band.
Popular beginning to end. Their material changes so much, just amazing. I was 13 yrs old in 1963 and their music was everything to us.
'63 was a horrible year, until they came on the scene. It was right after Kennedy had been assassinated, and a pall of sadness hung over the entire country....and suddenly, "I Want To Hold Your Hand" on the Ed Sullivan Show changed the filter from blue to brilliant gold.
I love this Beatles song. A few years ago James Corden did a Carpool Karaoke with Paul McCartney and they went to Liverpool to tour Paul’s childhood home, and even went to the barbershop on Penny Lane. It is a fun watch if you get a chance. I really enjoy your reactions…Beatles and Queen. Thanks for your reactions.
I was going to mention this. Great interview and visit.
The secret of this song is that its happy with a big dose of sadness (Nostalgia) due to the B minor chord.
I would've thought it was the whole chord progression, but ok.
This song actually cost them. It was issued as a Double A Single with Strawberry Fields, which I don't think you have reviewed yet (but you absolutely should). The 2 songs competed against each other in the charts & Engelbert Humperdinck broke The Beatles streak of 12 consecutive number one hits with Release Me. Love your comment, yes the Beatles are next level.
Penny Lane did peak at #2 in the UK... but it was #1 many countries around the world. It was #1 in the US while its B side (Strawberry Fields Forever") peaked at #8.
The Beatles were pioneers in rock music. No rock band before them used orchestral backing and the piccolo trumpet was totally original. These days we think nothing of things like this but the Beatles were first.
Buddy Holly used strings in the late 50's.
How can this possibly be the first time you’ve ever heard this song? I have heard this in grocery stores, in cars, on elevators, in dentist offices, etc. it has been ubiquitous for over 55 years.
He probably never got the mayo out of his ears.
Penny Lane is the name of a street and a district in Liverpool, England, and I've been there. All the places mentioned in the song - the barbershop, the fire station, and the roundabout - still exist. The Penny Lane signs were stolen so often that they don't make them anymore.
The Beatles were *never* out of "their prime". They were prolific to a fault, and invented new ways of recording, some of which are still in use. And yes, Penny Lane is a real place, and so is Strawberry Fields.
My favorite Beatles album has always been the one I was listening to at the time. Since I retired, I am learning to play guitar. Fun to play the songs that remind me how great they were together. “Now And Then” ties it all together.
@@user-we2yt5on9b Learning to play guitar? My tip: advil.
They’re just talking about where they grew up and the things they encounter on a daily basis! Penny lane is an area in Liverpool which is the Beatles hometown.
The Beatles were so clever at writing songs about all kinds of people. Penny Lane is in Liverpool, and a few other place names are in some of their songs, too. The Beatles, the Fab Four Forever. 🇬🇧🎶🎶💕💕
I was going to mention their nicknames, the Fab Four and also the Lads from Liverpool. (I didn’t even have to type the initial “L” in Liverpool just now because it already popped up as a suggestion. Not bad for the nickname of a band that broke up more than fifty years ago!)
In my opinion, the BEST instrumental solo (piccolo trumpet) of all The Beatles output!
David Mason on the horn.
@lorenschwiderski I've read that Paul just wouldn't be satisfied with the solo, and had played and re-played multiple times until the trumpeteer said that's it, I can't do it any better, even though Paul still wanted another take.
Yes, the Beatles did walk that street in their young days but the streets they are walking in the video are in London, intercut with footage of the actual Penny Lane in Liverpool.
PENNY LANE -my favorite song of the beatles !!!!
The Beatles were hugely popular in North America pretty much from the moment they appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show... it never let up until they disbanded, which was upsetting news to millions and millions of people... for one thing, in the pre-internet era, it seemed to come out of the blue, and after they had released Abbey Road, and were as popular as ever.... a band releases songs like Something, Here Comes the Sun and Come Together and then announces their break up what seemed like a few months later
Strawberry fields forever and Penny Lane the greatest single of all time!
It is great to walk down Penny Lane and see all the places they sing about - a beautiful song capturing a moment in time.
I think I read that this song was about actual people who frequented Penny Lane...and it too was a real street!
How can someone reach their 20s without hearing this song somewhere? I grew up with the song, can’t remember the first time hearing it, and I can’t imagine how great it must sound for a musician to hear for the first time.
It’s clearly inspired by classical music - Bach definitely, but it also has Glen Miller in the horns. They repeat the trick on “All You Need is Love”. And Paul’s bass, if you didn’t recognise it, sort of quotes “My Baby Just Cares for Me”. And there’s LOADS of sunshine in the music - I don’t know how they did that! Super-saturated George Martin production probably, as well as the effects of marijuana (it has a pulsing quality, not unlike the Jamaican ska music of the time).
It’s not really a Beatles song - it’s a McCartney record - apart from the gorgeous harmony vocals, I can’t hear much of John, George or even Ringo, while they are all clearly present on the flip-side.
Both Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields represent an important step in the growth of postmodernism in popular music - assembling something new from existing material which has a built-in cultural meanings. The Beatles were lucky enough to have lots of access to studios and expert engineers and musicians. So the listener of 1967, hearing horns that sound a bit like Glen Miller, will think of WW2, the childhood years of the Beatles themselves. Hearing the baroque trumpet solo, we might think of cathedrals, of the sacred, renaissance Europe and joyful, celebratory music. Then the short ending - this odd fragment seems to use the same instruments as the main song, along with a speeded-up tape-loop, possibly backwards. It is very much at odds with the lovely chord progression of the main song, with trumpets and guitar blaring out a repeated note which is not in tune with the tapes - but there’s Ringo pounding away so this section should evoke ‘Beatles/LSD’.
Lennon plays piano, guitar and some rhythm stuff, Harrison the Leadguitar, which isn't very dominant in the track.
I never thought about the different aspects of the music evoking images in the listener’s mind. I had just turned five when this came out, and I’m an American who’s still never been to Europe, so to me it’s always been purely a Beatles sound. Thanks for sharing.
@@terri2494 I wonder what the song evokes for you when you hear it? I’m from Liverpool, so for me it conjures up that part of the city, with it’s blue suburban skies. But it also makes me think a little bit of Otis, Arethra, American R’n’B, and there is a dreamy quality, clearly a song made by a bunch of pot-heads! I was born a month after the record was released - but I’m a student of music so like to think about the meaning and origin of a song.
@@braudabo Now I always thought it was Paul on the piano - it sounds much more like Paul than John to me. Wikipedia says John added piano overdubs but that Paul recorded the basic ‘keyboard track’. It’s probably a moot point anyway - the way they were recording at the time, there could be dozens of overdubs layered into the mix!
Regarding your question about The Beatles' popularity timeline, they were always HUGELY popular right from the start until the very end. They ruled the airwaves with radio play. One of my favorite songs that doesn't get much play is Baby You're a Rich Man. It has a funky beat with an Indian/oriental twist to it. Hope you get around to it!
Always and forever Popular........ Never gone out of fashion in60years!!!! Who else can claim that..... Maybe The Rolling Stones, as they're still going!!! We are a small Island but stuffed with many talents🤣😂🤣💕🎶🎶🎶🎶
I swear, there's something in the water, over there. Y'all keep cranking out genius music. :)
@@aprilstewart5929 thanks🥰.....we were once a great nation , sadly no longer....oh well every dog has its day, was nice while it lasted and it lasted a very long time.
@@nowhere982 As a Yank, lemme say this: don't ever count out the English. Things may look bad, now, but your people have the kind of strength and resilience that outlasted the Roman Empire....and the inventiveness that made Dunkirk possible. Your day is not over, my friend.
@@aprilstewart5929 sadly I fear we will soon be an Islamic State, they have so much power here and the horrific thing is OUR govt is fully supportive of them😪😪😪😪in fact a good deal of our cities and parliament and media is ruled by them. Really appreciated your kind words😘💞
@@nowhere982 Muslims aren't all bad. And they aren't all wankers. Keep calm and carry on; keep voting and being involved. England and the UK will come right, it always does. You still have Roman ruins, there, to remind you: the British are as tough as they come.
Top selling musicians of all time.
I was just a kid during those days. I remember everyone talking about the Beatles. I would see them once in awhile on TV. Fun times.
Were The Beatles more popular at the beginning, the middle, or the end of their career ? Yes.
This was my very favorite Beatles song when I was 13. Still have a soft spot for it.
I live at Abbey Road apartments on Penny Lane in Austin, Tx. The Beatles' influence is everywhere.
Penny lane is an area in Liverpool where the Beatles grew up in.Paul decided to make a song out of it by observing the people that worked and lived there.Now an important point,Penny Lane was released by the Beatles as a double A side.On the other side was John's sons,Strawberry Fields,again a song about an area of Liverpool,which was a park.So you have two Beatle songs about areas in Liverpool one of which was Paul's and the other John's,both on a single disk.Which one was the best?Well thats down to taste but both monumental songs.Would be nice to know the choice of some people.The Beatles at their best.
Q: Which girl was Strawberry Fields built for?
A: For Eva.
Q: Where is Penny Lane?
A: In my ears and in my eyes.
I went to Liverpool and took the Magical Mystery Tour bus ride around. And yeah Penny Lane is where Paul walked when he was a boy. But no they couldn’t walk around like everyone. They didn’t have a more or less popular period. They are THE BEATLES!!!! because they were just The Beatles being themselves and bringing joy.
The Beatles were at their peak from beginning to the end. And yes, they walked streets. Lennon never had security. Watch the videos of him in Central Park. But of course, we know what happened.
During their time as the Beatles, they always had security at public events, right up to the record-breaking 35,000 police officers, who protected them during the Tokyo performances in 1966. In the clip they aren't in Liverpool on Penny Lane, but in Stratford in London's East End. The Liverpool scenes were mixed into the clip.
The red coats are traditional riding costume for people in hunt clubs. They are called "Pinks" because of the famous tailor, Mr Pink, back in the day.
Decades later McCartney would record three albums (along with Youth) anonymously as “the Fireman,” with the first album called “Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest,” and the second titled “Rushes.” For awhile I couldn’t figure out why “the Fireman?” But of course, the Fireman “Rushes” in, and the flip side of Penny Lane was “Strawberry Fields.”
WOW! Whadda great song! Anything by them is great!
Just musings about years past.
Thanks Michael, good stuff...as
usual!👍
Penny Lane is simply one of the greatest songs ever written. An incredible melody with lyrics which paint a vivid suburban landscape. A pop masterpiece.
This appeared in February 1967 when the last image we had of the Beatles in the previous August was still clean cut moptops doing a concert in San Francisco. It was literally like they had arrived from a different planet.
This song is songwriting perfection... John and Paul were probably the best the 20th century ever saw in that regard. There is a reason they were so popular and still are.... Absolute Icons.
Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever were both intended to be on the Sgt Pepper album that was released in June 1967. Capitol was pressuring the Beatles for a new single as they had taken a bit of a break after their 1966 touring and had not provided any new music for a few months. Unfortunately they gave in to the record company’s request and released PL/SSF in February 1967 as a single instead. The Beatles did not like dipping into their fans’ pockets twice for the same song and as a general rule kept songs released as a single off of their albums. Sgt Pepper (in my opinion) suffered a little without these two songs being included.
Im glad you had the discussion. I like listening to your opinions, when paul does the chord prg. He nails it !! And the instrumentals mind blown.
I remember when this song came out, my family were visiting my uncle in London. I was seven. It’s always been my favourite Beatles track.
This along with Strawberry fields forever were the first songs the Beatles recorded after they stopped touring in 1966. the 45 which had both songs was released in February 1967 along with the promotional videos which sported their "new" look.
The comments will definitely tell you the history and the context of this song but I just want to say that was a fun reaction. It's really intriguing watching you go down this rabbit hole. And I know that Beatles reactions are hard to get up so hats off man.
I loved all this stuff as a kid but I've been a musician for decades and somehow when I look at now man it is so amazing what they were doing at the time. It really is.
Deceptively 'simple', simply magnificent!
They were so cool. Handsome buggers !!!
Next year we are going to England and I want to get a haircut on Penny Lane! A real place in Liverpool.
David Mason (2 April 1926 - 29 April 2011) was an English orchestral, solo and session trumpet player. He played the piccolo trumpet solo on the Beatles' song "Penny Lane". Paul had heard a a piccolo trumpet playing Bach piece with the symphony on TV, and wnated ta sound on Penny Lane. Found out if was Mr. Mason, so they hired him...There is an alternate take with a different ending where the piccolo trumpet plays 7 ending notes. Imagine being able to brag you played on a Beatles record and your solo is now immortal. There is a segment of this film in the new Now and Then Beatles song video.
👍👍Old school legends!! 🖖❤
I had to go to Liverpool back in the 80s, and accidently found myself driving down Penny Lane....you will have to imagine my excitement.
Beatles/If I Fell 😊
Love this song love all of them
Back In The USSR with their Beachboys sound in middle you'll love
It's a very real place and as you say, very much visited (including by my wife and I). It's just a suburban neighborhood shopping area near where John and Paul grew up in Liverpool. The 'shelter in the roundabout' is a very real bus stop on a roundabout on Penny Lane - they made a very ordinary place immortal!
I love this song as much now as I did when I first heard it in the 60's 😊
Ahhh! ❤ Always one of my favs. I know it made smile big tonight. Thanks 😊
Glad you enjoyed it!
@@michaelwduffy I always enjoy your reactions so much ❣️ Thank you.
Observations based on their childhood experiences around Liverpool. It's happy on the surface, but there's darkness there as well. A very atmospheric song, especially in that final note, which sounds foreboding to me.
So good watching people react to the Beatles 😂 . The Greatest.
Most people say that the Beatles true artistic peak happened at Sergeant Pepper's lonely hearts club band. This was also when they were leaving the recording studios and now owned their own recording studio called Abbey Road studios. Hence the album Abbey Road where they're rocking across Abbey Road.
Ah...loved your reaction! (And yes Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields are in Liverpool, where they all grew up. Abbey Rd. is in London)
They made this short and one for Strawberry Fields Forever, because they had stopped turing but wanted something their fans could share. TV music platforms played it everywhere.
Strawberry Fields, was the park (garden with lots of bushes, trees, places to build forts and such) on the same street down the block from John's aunt Mimi's house, whom he lived with. It was John's escape. Penny Lane is Paul's response to John's S.Fields song. Paul spent a lot of time at this bus stop, many times with George Harrison there, waiting to be bussed to school when he was 12-14 years old, right before he tried out for John Lennon's Quarrymen band.
I was in grade school and would go to place called Sally shop , and first heard penny lane, I believe it was 1960 never seen video .
As already spoken,all of the song is real events and people.That makes it easy to write the song😊
😂😂 i didn’t think about the red coats, until you mentioned it; but dam dude, right on. This time when the red coats crossed the pond, we welcomed them with open arms. That was the 2nd british invasion😂😂😂😂
One of my favorite Beatles tunes.
This is a classic McCartney song, with heavy influences from producer George Martin. He liked to insert classical music instruments, like that Bach Trumpet used in the solo (but only after McCartney asked him about the instrument, which he heard in using in another piece). Yes, a real place, real sights and sounds from the real place used to produce the lyrics.
Lov the french horn in this song.
There is a funny story about Penny Lane. John had been working on Strawberry Fields Forever, about a place from when he was growing up in Liverpool. He had worked on it, crafting it for weeks until it was at a point where he thought it was good enough to show the other Beatles. After he'd played it Paul said, "Hey, that's great! Taking something from Liverpool and making a song about it." The next day he showed up and had written and completed Penny Lane over night - melody, lyrics, chords. John was furious. He had to struggle and work to create and Paul just seemed to pop them out (for example, Paul wrote the song Yesterday in his sleep).
In the Maysel Brothers' real-time documentary "The Beatles: The First American Visit", where they accompanied the Beatles on their February 1964 trip to New York City & Washington, DC - there's a marvelous scene of The Beatles waiting in their hotel room for the car to take them to the Ed Sullivan Show. John is seated by himself, playing a melodica - working out the middle section of "Strawberry Fields Forever" (living is easy with eyes closed).
Appreciate the geniuses that were the Fab Four - The Beatles!
fox hunting coats i think
Penny Lane is a street. i think Strawberry Fields is too.
I may be mistaken but I think the ‘red coats’ that they wore were the style of coat worn whilst hunting, known as ‘hunting pinks’.
The Beatles - the best!
There is a song called “Waterloo Sunset” by the Kinks that has a huge fan base in the UK especially England.
The Kinks were big in the mid-sixties in California when I was a kid, but faded over time. I just learned they stayed popular, current and extremely well-loved in the UK all this time! 60 years!
“Waterloo Sunset” has been covered by Bowie, Elliott smith, def leopard. Fans are sentimental about it and fiercely loyal.
Is there something subliminal with the mayo jar resting on the couch?
I will never get over the fact that unlike any other band ever, the Beatles rarely wrote a song that followed a traditional "a to z" format. It makes it fun to listen to their songs even over and over because I feel like I'm always discovering something new even with songs I've heard a hundred times or more.
The flip side of PENNY LANE was STRAWBERRY FIELDS. Both songs were hits. Prepare to have your mind blown.
Release date 1967, 5 years after first stepping into a recording studio.
Paul wrote this about an area he grew up in, so it's observations (reminiscences actually) of where he grew up.
Except 'finger pies' is a rude 'activity' you do with the girls...
This song was released as a single coupled with "Strawberry Fields Forever", which was a John Lennon song about John's memories about Strawberry Fields, near where he grew up.
"Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" were another innovation by the Beatles: the music video.
They had stopped touring the year before (last tours 1966), so they needed a way to promote new music, something more than just airplay on AM radio. So they made these music promotional videos and sent them to national TV shows that drew the audiences that would be interested. I recall in the US these were played on The Ed Sullivan Show, American Bandstand, and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Likely there were others. After this, other bands prepared music videos for airplay on both national and regional television. It would be another 14 years before the rise of cable and the invention of MTV (1981), and another 12 years after that before home computers had availability of the internet (1993).
Fun Fact:
The Beatles' road managers, Mal Evans and Neil Aspinall, are dressed in the wigs and footmen costumes, bring the Beatles their guitars, at the end of the "Penny Lane" video. They met Mal when he worked as an occasional bouncer for the Cavern Club in Liverpool, where the Beatles established themselves as regular performers.
I was in penny lane yesterday, not far from where I live
Whether or not you react to it on the channel, I strongly recommend checking out Ellen Alaverdyan's bass & vocal cover of Penny Lane. This young bassist is an amazing talent, and her rendition of this Beatles classic is pretty much guaranteed to touch your heart and put a smile on your face!
Can you imagine going to School in the 60's, then coming home for your tea & homework whilst listening to a new Beatles song on Radio 1?
BBC Radio 1 started on the 30th September 1967. Previously, we had 'The BBC Light Programme' that played more 'light music' than pop. Pre October 1967, many would listen to pop music in the UK from commercial pirate radio stations broadcasting from ships anchored in international waters off the UK, but they were eventually outlawed and even jammed! Radio Luxembourg was also popular, a legal pop station broadcast in English from the heart of Europe, but famous for its wobbly AM radio signal in much of England due to the distance.
Yes, I walked down Penny Lane in 1968 looking for all those places: barbershop, firehouse............not sure I found them all....
I agree with others who suggested Strawberry Fields Forever, which, like Penny Lane, was also on the Magical Mystery Tour album. Eventually, please cover Here Comes the Sun.
It's gratifying to see TH-camrs discovering the greats of my childhood, and in music none greater than the Beatles.
Paul is absolutely criminal with those bass lines.
In Marion Iowa they have a huge neighborhood that all of the streets are named after Beatles songs and Penny Lane is one of them
If you haven't already, I suggest listening to some Beach Boys songs, especially from the album Pet Sounds (like 'God Only Knows' ) or really from anytime that Brian Wilson was still the primary songwriter for the group from roughly 1962 to 1968. The Beach Boys kind of saw themselves as the American rivals of The Beatles, especially since they were one of the most popular bands in America just before the Beatles broke out in the US in 1964. Other great Beach Boys songs from that period include 'Good Vibrations', 'Help Me Rhonda', 'Wouldn't It Be Nice', 'Fun, Fun, Fun', 'California Girls', and 'All Summer Long'
Red coats were worn to hunt foxes on horses. Redcoats, the soldiers, had white straps forming a big white X to hold weapons with. The americans laughed at them wearing a big X, they could use it for a target to shoot them.
Penny Lane is an actual street , right in the centre of Liverpool.
It's on the outskirts,hence the suburban skies.I used to walk home along it from school every day in the sixties.it was my bank branch and barber's .Great days.
@@geoffreyevans1549 I'll Compromise, It's not in the centre . but going towards the centre.
That was also the 2 songs The Beatles recorded after stopping touring which Mean they didn't have to Perform those songs on stage with only three guitars and a set of drums.
Penny Lane is in the middle of their short 8 year reign. They established mega-stardom in the early years, and artistic and critical acclaim in the middle to the end.
The Redcoats depict the British Invasion.
The Beatles, The Stones, the Kinks, the Zombies, Chad and Jeremy, Peter and Gordon. They were good times.
They geniuses
The red jacket is a fox hunting jacket! Yes it is an actual place! 😎👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 it’s the middle! They were always the most popular!
Lennon-McCartney were two of best songwriters of the 20th Century. In about 6 years, they wrote what, about 600 songs. Clever musicians, too.
Never ever to be bettered .
Hahahaha were they more popular in the beginning or end, the world adopted them right away and never stopped loving them.❤😊